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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 199 records · Page 11

Excitation of dust acoustic waves by an ion beam in a plasma cylinder with negatively charged dust grains

An ion beam propagating through a plasma cylinder having negatively charged dust grains drives a low frequency electrostatic dust acoustic wave (DAW) to instability via Cerenkov interaction. The unstable wave frequencies and the growth rate increase with the relative density of negatively charged dust grains. The growth rate of the unstable mode scales to the one-third power of the beam density. The real part of the frequency of the unstable mode increases with the beam energy and scales to almost one-half power of the beam energy. The phase velocity, frequency, and wavelength results of the unstable mode are in compliance with the experimental observations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Angular and Spectral Distributions of the Broadband Radiation of a Photoemission Source

Angular dependence of the electric field of electromagnetic wave generated by a rectangular photoemission source with the given surface density of dipole moment is determined. The dipole emission is initiated by the wave that propagates along the surface at a superluminal phase velocity. The spectral distribution of the radiation is determined, and the angular distribution of the radiation energy is calculated.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Note on one-fluid modeling of low-frequency Alfvénic fluctuations in a solar wind plasma with multi-ion components

A simple point of view that non-zero Alfvén ratio (residual energy) appears as a consequence of one-fluid modeling of uni-directional Alfvén waves in a solar wind plasma is presented. Since relative speeds among ions are incorporated into the one-fluid model as a pressure anisotropy, the Alfvén ratio can be finite due to the decrease in the phase velocity. It is shown that a proton beam component typically found in the solar wind plasma can contribute to generating non-zero Alfvén ratio observed in the solar wind plasma. Local equilibrium velocity distribution functions of each ion component are also discussed by using maximum entropy principle.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

A mesoscale gravity wave event observed during CCOPE. II - Interactions between mesoscale convective systems and the antecedent waves

The interactions between preexisting gravity waves and convective systems were investigated using data obtained by the Cooperative Convection Precipitation Experiment observational network in Montana on July 11-12, 1981. The results indicate that strong convection substantially affects gravity waves locally by augmenting the wave amplitude, reducing its wavelength, distorting the wave shape, altering the wave phase velocity, and greatly weakening the in-phase covariance between the perturbation wind and pressure fields. These convective effects upon gravity waves are explained in terms of hydrostatic and nonhydrostatic pressure forces and gust front processes associated with thunderstorms.

Koch, Steven E.↗

Experimental observation of the behaviour of cogenerated dusty plasma using a bipolar pulsed direct current power supply

We have experimentally observed the behaviour of cogenerated dusts in unmagnetized plasma produced using a bipolar pulsed dc power supply. In this experiment, the dust particles have been generated through sputtering of graphite cathode and were stratified between two electrodes. This stratification of dust clouds has obtained at a typical range of plasma parameters, namely, 650 V (peak-to-peak) with 0.2 mbar pressure. In above condition, we detected the Taylor-like instability at the interface of two dusty clouds with different densities. A very less dust density (void like) region inside the lesser dust density portion is also noted. Again, it has been observed that a self excited dust density wave propagates towards the higher density dust fluid inside the system as well as a stationary band structure of thin multiple layers of dust particles when we apply a higher voltage (750 V peak-to-peak). The wavelength, phase velocity, and frequency of the excited wave have also been estimated.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Solar wind driven dust acoustic instability with Lorentzian kappa distribution

In a three species electron-ion-dust plasma following a generalized non-Maxwellian distribution function (Lorentzian or kappa), it is shown that a kinetic instability of dust-acoustic mode exists. The instability threshold is affected when such (quasineutral) plasma permeates through another static plasma. Such case is of interest when the solar wind is streaming through the cometary plasma in the presence of interstellar dust. In the limits of phase velocity of the waves larger and smaller than the thermal velocity of dust particles, the dispersion properties and growth rate of dust-acoustic mode are investigated analytically with validation via numerical analysis.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Flying radio frequency undulator

A concept for the room-temperature rf undulator, designed to produce coherent X-ray radiation by means of a relatively low-energy electron beam and pulsed mm-wavelength radiation, is proposed. The “flying” undulator is a high-power short rf pulse co-propagating together with a relativistic electron bunch in a helically corrugated waveguide. The electrons wiggle in the rf field of the −1st spatial harmonic with the phase velocity directed in the opposite direction in respect to the bunch velocity, so that particles can irradiate high-frequency Compton's photons. A high group velocity (close to the speed of light) ensures long cooperative motion of the particles and the co-propagating rf pulse.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

Waveguide Modes in a Planar Graphene–Dielectric Thin-Layer Structure

Particular features of waveguide propagation of modes in a planar structure that consists of alternating layers of a dielectric and graphene are investigated. Within the effective-medium approximation, dispersion relations are obtained for symmetric and antisymmetric waveguide modes. Based on their numerical analysis, the frequency dependences of the propagation and decay constants, of the group and phase velocities, and of the energy flux carried by waveguide modes are constructed. The influence of the fraction of graphene in the structure on the behavior of waveguide modes is analyzed.

77 NANOSCIENCE AND NANOTECHNOLOGY↗

Direct observation of closure domain wall mediated spin waves

The generation and guiding of spin waves from and by magnetic domain walls are demonstrated. The spin waves radiate from pinned and oscillating magnetic closure domain walls and propagate linearly along a narrow path formed by the surrounding 180° asymmetric Bloch domain walls. The propagating spin wave modes are directly visualized by time-resolved magneto-optical Kerr microscopy with picosecond temporal resolution. A linear relationship between excitation frequency, wavelength, and number of spin waves per domain exists. Independent of the field excitation frequency, a constant phase velocity of spin waves propagation is obtained. Spin waves characteristics can be tuned by varying the magnetic domain dynamics, allowing for variable spin wave characteristics with magnetic field characteristics and histories.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

Diffusion of energetic electrons in turbulent plasmas of the solar wind

A method of calculation of the diffusion coefficients D(v) of particles in velocity space, based on the statistical analysis of the motion of a great number of test electrons, is proposed. In the case of Langmuir turbulence developing in plasmas with fluctuating density inhomogeneities such as the solar wind, simulations provide coefficients D(v) which mainly depend on the Langmuir wave spectra and agree well with the analytical predictions D{sub th}(v) of the quasilinear theory of weak turbulence. Nevertheless, some noticeable differences exist with this theory: in the range of phase velocity of the short waves where the main part of the wave energy is concentrated, D(v) is noticeably smaller than D{sub th}(v), due to the scattering, the reflection, and the focusing effects encountered by the Langmuir waves when they interact with the plasma density inhomogeneities. Moreover, the probability of large velocity jumps in the particles’ trajectories essentially exceeds the probability of a Gaussian distribution. These large jumps, which are connected with the waves’ transformation processes, modify the nature of the particle diffusion, which is no more classical. These higher order effects cause the discrepancies observed with the quasilinear theory, which does not take them into account in its perturbative approach. The solar wind plasmas, which present fluctuating density inhomogeneities of noticeable average levels, are a very good laboratory to study such diffusion processes, which can eventually influence significantly on the development of essential physical phenomena, as electromagnetic radio emissions by type III solar radio bursts, for example.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Coupling mid-infrared light from a photonic crystal waveguide to metallic transmission lines

We propose and theoretically study a hybrid structure consisting of a photonic crystal waveguide (PhC-wg) and a two-wire metallic transmission line (TL), engineered for efficient transfer of mid-infrared (mid-IR) light between them. An efficiency of 32% is obtained for the coupling from the transverse magnetic (TM) photonic mode to the symmetric mode of the TL, with a predicted intensity enhancement factor of 53 at the transmission line surface. The strong coupling is explained by the small phase velocity mismatch and sufficient spatial overlapping between the modes. This hybrid structure could find applications in highly integrated mid-IR photonic-plasmonic devices for biological and gas sensing, among others.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗

ANALYTIC APPROXIMATE SEISMOLOGY OF PROPAGATING MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC WAVES IN THE SOLAR CORONA

Observations show that propagating magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves are ubiquitous in the solar atmosphere. The technique of MHD seismology uses the wave observations combined with MHD wave theory to indirectly infer physical parameters of the solar atmospheric plasma and magnetic field. Here, we present an analytical seismological inversion scheme for propagating MHD waves. This scheme uses the observational information on wavelengths and damping lengths in a consistent manner, along with observed values of periods or phase velocities, and is based on approximate asymptotic expressions for the theoretical values of wavelengths and damping lengths. The applicability of the inversion scheme is discussed and an example is given.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A CFD model for biomass combustion in a packed bed furnace

Climate change has now become an important issue which is affecting environment and people around the world. Global warming is the main reason of climate change which is increasing day by day due to the growing demand of energy in developed countries. Use of renewable energy is now an established technique to decrease the adverse effect of global warming. Biomass is a widely accessible renewable energy source which reduces CO{sub 2} emissions for producing thermal energy or electricity. But the combustion of biomass is complex due its large variations and physical structures. Packed bed or fixed bed combustion is the most common method for the energy conversion of biomass. Experimental investigation of packed bed biomass combustion is difficult as the data collection inside the bed is challenging. CFD simulation of these combustion systems can be helpful to investigate different operational conditions and to evaluate the local values inside the investigation area. Available CFD codes can model the gas phase combustion but it can’t model the solid phase of biomass conversion. In this work, a complete three-dimensional CFD model is presented for numerical investigation of packed bed biomass combustion. The model describes the solid phase along with the interface between solid and gas phase. It also includes the bed shrinkage due to the continuous movement of the bed during solid fuel combustion. Several variables are employed to represent different parameters of solid mass. Packed bed is considered as a porous bed and User Defined Functions (UDFs) platform is used to introduce solid phase user defined variables in the CFD. Modified standard discrete transfer radiation method (DTRM) is applied to model the radiation heat transfer. Preliminary results of gas phase velocity and pressure drop over packed bed have been shown. The model can be useful for investigation of movement of the packed bed during solid fuel combustion.

09 BIOMASS FUELS↗

Ab Initio Study of the ZnSnSb{sub 2} Semiconductor

For the chalcopyrite-like ZnSnSb{sub 2} crystal, the equilibrium crystal-lattice parameters a = 6.2893 Å, c = 12.5975 Å, and u = 0.2314 and the band structure involving the band gap E{sub g} = 0.43 eV are determined by ab initio calculations based on density functional theory. The phonon vibrational frequencies, the elastic constants (C{sub 11} = 89.3, C{sub 12} = 41.9, C{sub 13} = 41.8, C{sub 33} = 90.4, C{sub 44} = 43.9, and C{sub 66} = 44.1), the phase velocities of elastic waves, the elasticity moduli, the microhardness (2.29 GPa), and the Grüneisen elastic parameter (1.5) are calculated. The temperature dependences of the heat capacity and thermodynamic potential are considered (in the range from 20 to 633 K).

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗

APPARENT CROSS-FIELD SUPERSLOW PROPAGATION OF MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMIC WAVES IN SOLAR PLASMAS

In this paper we show that the phase-mixing of continuum Alfvén waves and/or continuum slow waves in the magnetic structures of the solar atmosphere as, e.g., coronal arcades, can create the illusion of wave propagation across the magnetic field. This phenomenon could be erroneously interpreted as fast magnetosonic waves. The cross-field propagation due to the phase-mixing of continuum waves is apparent because there is no real propagation of energy across the magnetic surfaces. We investigate the continuous Alfvén and slow spectra in two-dimensional (2D) Cartesian equilibrium models with a purely poloidal magnetic field. We show that apparent superslow propagation across the magnetic surfaces in solar coronal structures is a consequence of the existence of continuum Alfvén waves and continuum slow waves that naturally live on those structures and phase-mix as time evolves. The apparent cross-field phase velocity is related to the spatial variation of the local Alfvén/slow frequency across the magnetic surfaces and is slower than the Alfvén/sound velocities for typical coronal conditions. Understanding the nature of the apparent cross-field propagation is important for the correct analysis of numerical simulations and the correct interpretation of observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Effect of squeeze on electrostatic Trivelpiece-Gould wave damping

We present a theory for increased damping of Trivelpiece-Gouid plasma modes on a nonneutral plasma column, due to application of a Debye shielded cylindrically symmetric squeeze potential φ{sub 1}. We present two models of the effect this has on the plasma modes: a 1D model with only axial dependence, and a 2D model that also keeps radial dependence in the squeezed equilibrium and the mode. We study the models using both analytical and numerical methods. For our analytical studies, we assume that φ{sub 1}/T≪1, and we treat the Debye shielded squeeze potential as a perturbation in the equilibrium Hamiltonian. Our numerical simulations solve the 1D Vlasov-Poisson system and obtain the frequency and damping rate for a self-consistent plasma mode, making no assumptions as to the size of the squeeze. In both the 1D and 2D models, damping of the mode is caused by Landau resonances at energies E{sub n} for which the particle bounce frequency ω{sub b}(E{sub n}) and the wave frequency ω satisfy ω=nω{sub b}(E{sub n}). Particles experience a non-sinusoidal wave potential along their bounce orbits due to the squeeze potential. As a result, the squeeze induces bounce harmonics with n > 1 in the perturbed distribution. The harmonics allow resonances at energies E{sub n}≤T that cause substantial damping, even when wave phase velocities are much larger than the thermal velocity. In the regime ω/k≫√(T/m) (k is the wave number) and T≫φ{sub 1}, the resonance damping rate has a |φ{sub 1}|{sup 2} dependence. This dependence agrees with the simulations and experimental results.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗

Mountain Waves in the Middle Atmosphere: Microwave Limb Sounder Observations and Analyses

Observations and analyses of mesoscale gravity waves in the stratosphere from the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) are summarized, with focus on global distribution of topography related wave activities. We found most of the orographical wave activities occur during the winter seasons over high latitude mountain ridges. In the northern hemisphere, the strongest waves are those over Scandinavia, Central Eurasia, and southern Greenland, whereas in the southern hemisphere, wave activities are outstanding over the Andes, New Zealand, and Antarctic rim;, MLS observations suggest that these orographic waves are located mostly on the down stream side of the mountain ridge with downward phase progression and have horizontal phase velocities opposite to the stratospheric jet-stream. Future studies using MLS data and numerical modeling will lead to better understanding of gravity wave effects on dynamics and chemistry in the middle atmosphere.

UPPER ATMOSPHERE↗

Ion-beam driven lower hybrid waves in a magnetized dusty plasma

An ion beam drives lower hybrid waves to instability in a magnetized dusty plasma via Cerenkov interaction. A dispersion relation and the growth rate of the lower hybrid waves have been derived taking into account the dust charge fluctuations. The frequency and the growth rate of the unstable wave instability increase with relative density of negatively charged dust grains. The lower hybrid modes with phase velocity comparable to the beam velocity possess a large growth rate. Moreover, the growth rate of the instability increases with beam density and scales as the one-third power of the beam density.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗